Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Off Topic Duncan's Site meridian-audio.info hacked?

It is sad when you get better service buying second hand. I've had nothing but great service from the folk I've bought stuff from here - meaning I've never needed to contact M directly or use a dealer (who, I am sure, would do their damnedest but might ultimately be let down by M).

I buy M second hand for broadly the same reasons I never buy new cars - someone else has taken the depreciation and also, crucially in the context of this debate, has ironed out the manufacturing faults for me.

Duncan

Just to add my +1 for Duncan's site - much more useful the official one - shame you can't host the firmware too - GMS

You have PM re 209 manual.

Cheers, Roger.

Completely agree, I will always call Reuben first when looking for something these days as he has always had great product and on the one occasion where there has been an issue with something he has lent me something else while the has got it sorted, which is more than Meridian offer, they just leave you without a system for 8 weeks!

@ Gizze,

It's a bit of an apples vs oranges point you make I think which is a bit unbalanaced. When I've had repair issues my dealer (REP) has always lent me a unit in the same way that Reuben has done for you. This wasn't Meridian lending me one and nor would I expect them to. We deal with dealers either official or otherwise. So, it's not really right to have a bash at HQ here.

There's plenty we can moan about so don't worry that I'm being overly protective of HQ.

I've had great service from both my dealer (Music Matters) and Meridian; it�s a three way deal. One has to foster good a relationship with the dealer, like popping in to the shop sometimes (even if it is just for a chat over a cup of coffee, failing that given them call occasionally.

I've had:

Dealer sourced Meridian box for my 800D when it had to go back to HQ, for PSU and ROM change. (I only paid for the ROM drive, rest was FOC).

Dealer collected my 800D when it had to go back to HQ, for 2nd PSU change (FOC and I got a new box for it)

Extended home loan equipment a pair of 8Ks from M (instigated at HH2) and installed by dealer.

Extended loan equipment: Sooloos C10/Ensemble (M demo kit) collected from dealer.

Direct delivery of an 861v6 from factory to save time in order to coordinate a system rebuild whilst I was on holiday.

Replacement of a C15 that developed a suspected HDD fault, the new unit was delevered from the factory in under a week.

Good communications, relaying of questions / issues back to M.


So I have no complaints about dealer support. I do however have strong criticism of Meridian Executive Management: broken promises, failure to recognise key use cases, new policy on fixed rate (very high) repairs and of cause the �Luxury Goods� theme to the expense of their genuine customer base. Meridian should be about cutting edge 'High end' HiFi and less about �Bling�.

Regards,
Carl

I bought a pair of 5200s new, problem with one immediately, had to go back to dealer, M took 2 weeks to collect, then 3 weeks to look at it, then no amp boards for approx. 12 weeks, which took another 2 weeks to tell me.
In the end the dealer sorted me out, but not good really and M would not replace the speakers for a new pair.

I bought a used G68 and it had an issue with comms and the remote, took Meridian weeks for them to collect it from the dealer, and after 4 months it still wasn't looked at, so the seller gave me a refund, and last I heard it still wasn't back with him after 6 months.
That is bloody useless how ever you look at it and doesn't fill me with confidence at all for the future.

I have Alan at Martins to use and I don't think it gets better than that, he is a genuinely really nice guy, and when he heard about the speakers he offered to step in to see what he could do, even though I had bought them elsewhere!

So although I have a superb dealer down the road, I can't afford to buy everything new and I just don't have the patience to wait months when something goes wrong. My system was my TV, and I can tell you, having no TV for a week with a wife and kids is bad enough, for 2 months took the mick and made me rethink Meridian.

Hi Gizze,

Not good reading I grant you and the delays noted are totally unacceptable. But, again I'd just say that you buy from a dealer not M. It is for the dealer to sort you out a new replacement pair if you get a faulty DSP from the beginning. I know I wouldn't have settled for less. Consumer law says it's you and the dealer contractually IIUC.

I had exactly the same issue with my 1st 861. My dealer didn't hesitate in getting me a completely new unit. Not saying that M are off the hook at all and I do agree it is less than satisfactory but we need to be clear where some of the responsibility lies here.

Would be interested to hear what our resident dealers have to say on this.

cheers

As I understand UK consumer law, you the consumer do not have to prove an item is faulty.
You can reject goods not fit for purpose and they have to replace or refund you.

I know it doesnt sit well but you have to be hard nosed about it. You have rights in law!

Its easy to get wise after the event though and service should be better than you had gizzE. It does worry people thinking of buying,

Thoughts, Chris

Please don't get me wrong, the dealer I had bought from was good, he offered me a refund, however I am also in retail and know how hard it is for small independents so didn't want to put that on them, plus at the time I wanted the speakers.

However, I bought one of the last pairs of non speakerlink 5200s, and because of this Meridian would not replace them with a new pair of 5200s as they only had speakerlink, but I think that is pretty poor.
The fact was they were faulty, it was not the dealers fault that they had changed the spec. of the speaker, and the dealer shouldn't have had to take the hit on it.

The thing is, if something is faulty, the supplier should just credit it, which they wouldn't.
If someone brings something back to me that is faulty I have to refund it, I have no choice if in the first 30 days, and it is the same for a manufacturer supplying a dealer. But they insisted on repairing them. I even knew that they had 3 pairs of non speakerlink 5200s at Huntingdon in various colours that they had used on their roadshow and I said I would be happy with a pair of them, but even that was of no interest to them.


At the time it didn't really bother me too much, I bought another pair of 5000s and used them, but it has changed my thinking about long term ownership, do I want to spend that sort of money on new kit again? And do I want to risk buying used gear anymore either, as getting it repaired out of warranty can be even more painful?

I used to think people who were moaning about the new Meridian regime were just moaning for the sake of it, but then when it actually effected me I suddenly looked at it in a whole different way.

Over the years, I've purchased:
2 x 568
2 x 504
562v2
596
800
861
DSP6000 (pr)
DSP8000 (pr)
DSP5000 (pr)
DSP5000C
DSP5500HC
D2500
4 x D33 (pr)
D33C
more cables, patch boxes, and what-nots than I can count.

All of those were purchased new, from one well-respected dealer (who I am still friendly with).

Of these, the 800 was DOA (transport); the 596 ran for 4 hours and failed, was sent back for repair and came back non-working (twice!), and came back again and is sitting in its unopened box because I can't be bothered; the D2500 ran for a few days and failed - I made the dealer replace it with new stock as I had experienced M service; 5 D33's have failed at various times (in boxes here - no point in sending them back).

The final straw for me came when the 861 (which was promised to have room correction) needed a hugely expensive chassis/card swap to upgrade it to one that I then had the option of purchasing room correction for. And having the "chroma bug" in the 800, at the price an 800 costs (and it being modular) didn't help.

My dealer was unable to get M to budge on any of this.

I am now down to a 568/562v2/504/DSP5000/DSP5000C/D33 system (with a spare 568!).

Just for grins, I priced a G-series system when it came out. But I decided that there was no way M was going to get more money from me.

The only reason I still have my 500 system is the community here. I downloaded all of the firmware for my components (which haven't had updates in years, anyway) so the recent change doesn't impact me, but I just see it as one more indication of M's loss of customer focus.

@gIzze

Isn't there more to this story than you are letting on? IIRC you have mentioned on this forum a while back that you bought your new 5200's really cheap as they were the last non SL 5200's around. And I have a copy of a PM to me when you were haggling over the price of my 5200's that I was selling, you stated that a dealer had a pair coming at �3000 and said that another dealer a year previously had a new pair on hold for you at �3250. So either this was BS to get me to drop my price or you got a real bargain.

If it was a real bargain, and you got your speakers new at �3000-�3250 (or there about), I can't get my head around why it is 'pretty poor' that Meridian should not swap these (SL had been out at least 6 months previously) 'new' �3000 speakers for a brand new latest spec pair costing near �7000. IMHO the dealer did the right thing and offered a refund or repair.

As for delays, does Meridian, like other manufacturing companies, still largely close down over some Summer months? If so, this can delay repairs. IIRC that my 568-568.2mm/596-598 upgrades took about 6 weeks due to the factory being closed for August.